The Devil's Contract
by Crystal Rabbit
Summary: The devil's temptations take different forms, luring people to their fall from grace. The consequences of making these contracts are boundless, some are good, some are bad and the rest is bit of both.


The Priceless Wish that I made in a Dream.

Disclaimer: I don't own any copyrighted material.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely anyone regardless how they use that power whether it is for good for others or to satisfied their own selfish needs. However in order for people to change, they need to have the power in order to be able to make this change for themselves."

It was mandatory as dictated by the laws of society for kids in the future as it was in the past, to go to school to learn and study for subjects they had selected for each semester. While going to school wasn't only the option to study, especially when information could be downloaded from the electronic sources to be directly fed to the conscious mind of people for them to learn more quickly.

However it was important for people to form interpersonal bonds with each other, starting at a young age, as bad habits were harder to break as the age of the person had increased. The signs of becoming being addicted too much to technology included spending too much time on technology to the point where it took over the person's life.

People were heavy depended on the technology like it was one of their basic needs not wants; they used different forms of technology even the type of technologies that wasn't visible to the human eyes in every moment of their daily lives.

From the chair that he was sat on, Eddy looked down from one of the windows in the classroom that was next to where he sat, from above he could see aside from the electronic screens that hanged off the buildings in the city, which had broadcasted news to advertising goods from the big incorporate companies to the audience below. He could see many cars quickly drifting on the roads that stretched many kilometers to their destinations and lying side by side like multiple long of strings with bead threaded through them.

School robots floated through the corridor, passed the classrooms along the sides of corridor, some were there to help people who had enquiries that they wanted to be answered or were lost; others were there as security robots to look out for the safety of school officials and students and their main objectives was to escort people in the school to safety in case of dangers or emergencies that had happened or was about to happen in school or somewhere near the school.

Students wander up and down the corridors, in and out of the classroom just like the robots. Some were going outside for a relaxing walk to relieve the accumulated stress off their mind from the long hours of studying while others had to attend classes as dictated by their school schedules.

He had bought food from home with him to eat on the school's campus, people were allowed to eat anywhere on the campus provided that they cleaned up the mess after themselves, and excepted the areas that had clearly putted up signs saying that eating was prohibited in those zones.

Wandering the corridors out of boredom, Sarah walked on; trying to decide how she would spend her time that now Jimmy's mother needed his help for an important business.

She knew that it was none of her business but she wanted to know out of curiosity, she had tried to ask him what that important business was about but he had declined to farther explain it so she had dropped the question. Walking with a few more steps down, she saw Eddy sitting in a classroom within her line of sight.

Stopping and turning right on her heel, she walked through the open doors of the classroom that wasn't in use, while Eddy continue to peered down the window, looking at people moving about, she popped a question out of curiosity but mostly out of being nosy about other people's business. "So what are you think about?"

"Nothing much," Eddy turned to Sarah who dragged the chair on the floor from one of the desk to sit across from him.

Rising one of his eyebrows, asking in curiosity as he observed her, noticing that someone was absent namely her sidekick. "So don't you have anything else to annoy and where is Jimmy? Normally he and you stick together like two peas in a pod." Normally Sarah and Jimmy were considered to be inseparable, they were always seen together wherever they went, and it was quite rare to see them apart.

Ignoring his comments, she said, "Get real, Jimmy is at home, helping his mother with something," Before pausing as she thought of a juicy subject to discuss with him that she and mostly likely him had heard or saw on the news. "Have you heard of the media and electricity blackout that occurred in the other city?"

As humanity had continued to improve on the current technology that they had, technology had slowly become more predominated on earth's society. With these advanced technologies at their hands, people soon came to a realization that they could not only leave Earth but also they could live on the heavenly bodies in the universe.

"Who hasn't," He remarked, he was connected to the media all of his life, who wasn't. This was how other people knew what he had done at the moment and vice versa. "It was all over the news on the internet and the TV." Everyone in the world and even people living on offworld colonies from different galaxies were connected to the network where news were constantly broadcasted from the social media to and from the galaxy.

"Do you think, you will be able survive without technology," Sarah asked, bring up holographical screens of the accident on the school's cyberspace for Eddy to see, "The entire city was under a blackout, all the public services were all shut down, nobody could access them or get of them. People were trapped inside for several hours were the ones using the public services when the blackout hit the whole city."

Everything in the city was artificial made, remade by people to become more resistance and stronger. For something that to be was completely natural that untouched by human hands was a rarity. People were constantly surrounded by technology and information regardless whether they liked it or not. It was hard for people in society to survive without technology as they were so connected; it was unthinkable and unbearable to live without technology.

"I don't think so, I can't last a minute without my smartphone," Eddy explained, as he observed the screens that she had brought up in cyberspace, "You know, I have got to help my parent run the family business which mean getting in touch with the business's partners."

"So why do you think, the entire city went down?" Sarah asked, closing the holographical screens of the accident. Regardless of what had triggered the blackout of the city, this was seen as serious threat to the public's safety, as the government had vowed to investigate this case to make sure it would never happen again.

"Who knows?" Eddy shrugged his shoulder to gesture to her that he was clueless as her, "While it could be accumulation of glitches in the city's system that the city's cyber security haven't found out, that triggered the blackout. I highly doubt that would be the case, after all the safety of citizens and providing safe services for the public to use are the government's responsibilities."

"What do you think your parents is going to say about your report?" Sarah moved on to ask him another question, fiddling with the apps on her smartphone that she pulled out her pocket on her pants, getting bored.

"What do you expected," Eddy shot a rhetorical question to Sarah, before answering the question with confident in him, "They will be praising me on how well I was doing my subjects."

"Of course, they will," scoffed Sarah, rolling her eyes at him before smiling at him, she had caught his attention in snare as she paused, "But,"

Resuming with her talk with him, "Will it be good enough for your parents?" His parents were always paying more to his older brother than him, "Your parents are always telling mine, how great your brother is, the awards that he had achieved but they never seem to mention you at all."

Shrugging his shoulder as if he didn't care, continuing on to eat the rest his lunch that his mother had packed for him to eat.

As Eddy opened the door to his house, his mother had called out to him, "Eddy come to kitchen, look at the awards that your brother had brought home."

"I'm coming mum," Eddy responded from the doorway as he kicked off his shoes and levitating them to be placed on the shoe rack inside, near the doorway. "I'm putting my shoes on the rack."

He walked into kitchen and sat on the chair where his mother had placed the pasta on the table that she had microwaved in the oven. He could smell the strong smell of tomato paste that his mother had poured on the pasta, before he had reached the kitchen.

His mother sat on the chair, holding the spoon ready to dig into her pasta.

"Do you want to read your brother's report that he had just got back today?" His mother asked him as she sat on the chair eating her own pasta, "Sometime I don't understand, why can't you be as good as your brother." She added in her opinion of her younger son. She had high hope that one day, he would be just great as his older brother.

"No, thank you." Eddy politely declined his mother's offer to let him look through his brother's report card. He didn't need to read the report to see what his brother scored. Getting off his chair to take a spoon from the container of utensils that lied on the kitchen bench to scoop up pieces of pasta into his mouth.

"So why don't you want to read your brother's report?" His mother questioned him as she ate her pasta.

Eddy coldly replied with sense of indifferent of being his brother's report, "What more is there to know?" He had seen it all, his brother's excellent score in all the subjects he had done. He couldn't compare his achievements to his brother's. "I have seen his results already, they are all the same. I already know what he got."

"Now, Eddy, he is your brother." His mother scolded him for his indifferent and lack of enthusiasm at his brother's achievement. "You should be supportive about his achievement."

Taking the report from the bag that he placed underneath his chair, he smiled brightly at his mother as he handed it over to her, "You will be impressed as to what I got in my report."

In the future where there were hardly any hardcover copies available around due to the fact that people found it more convenient to carry information on electronic devices than carrying the actually physical-hard copies around with them. As living in the future where everything was made convenient, people would complained that carrying physical copies of information on themselves was a tedious job when there were other way that were easier to transfer information. People only kept hard copies of documents that were important to them.

Flipping through the pages of the report that her son had gave her, she pointed out that she was only satisfied with the mark he had got, "Eddy, while any normal," Stressing on the word 'normal' as if it was word that was degrading, "parents would be impress if their kids present to them with marks like these. I won't be satisfied with marks like these."

"Why, not?" asked Eddy continuing to eat his pasta as he looked at his mother, as usually she was disappointed in his marks, hoping that he would strived to be like his brother. "It is not like, I just passed the passing mark."

His mother lectured him, "We have a family name to uphold, so the standard that is set for this family, is quite high. That is why I need you to be as good as your brother." Every thought that people had about him and his family; had mattered. Every of those thought had counted to their family reputation.

"I know, I know," Eddy attempted to pacify her, not wanting to his mother to bore him to death, again. "You have told me a million time about that, I don't need to hear that lecture, again."

"Well, if you don't to hear my lecture again, then why don't you study harder?" His mother scolded him, pointing her finger at him. "Unlike you, I don't have to lecture your brother on what he does, because everything, he does is correct unlike you."

Eddy was silenced; he had to be silence so he wouldn't anger his mother. This was so that his mother have wouldn't have the incense to continue on her lecture, he couldn't stand the repetitive nature of it.

His mother had continued on, ignoring her son's irritation. "I know that you can do better than this," Trying to encourage her son to look beyond his horizon. "I don't want you to be like what your brother used to be. When he was at your age, used to study a lot but … later as years he abandon his works. Constantly wasting his spare time to play games and hang out."

As he listened to his mother, he looked down his pasta, eating his pasta. He didn't want to be compared to his brother, she couldn't see who he was but see could what she wanted him to be.

"Wishing is the same as dreaming it won't get you anywhere in life, maybe that is what your brother thought about when he was in his rebellious stage. That he could breeze through life acting like that, dreaming of big things that would eventually to come to him."

Christianity like all other religions at the time dictated on how people in society should behave and clearly defined their roles to act in society. The bible had spoke how Eve had doomed and inflicted humankind with the original sins, tricked by the smooth talking devil in disguise devious serpent in the Garden of Eden, into eating the forbidden fruit.

The book had repeated warned its follower of the dangers of using witchcraft to make a pact with Devil who could take on many disguises and his minions who were different species of demons, to have their wishes grant that were proclaimed by the bible, to be diabolical. In return for their wish, their souls would condemned to hell for eternal damnation.

Perhaps, the devil's temptations came in different forms to the future.

Yet, as technology has become more advanced, new ideas began to fill people that led them to question the ideas and find contradiction in the foundation led down by the religions at that time. Inevitably, religions had become less relevant to the ideas held by the modern society.

Temptation became too great for people, as people lost their faith.

Eddy looked at his homework, he hated the sight of it. The monotony of doing his homework in the library was tiresome; it had worn out his nerves, his nerves were thinned like someone who had sharpened a blade on the black charcoal.

No matter what he did, he always overshadowed by his brother's achievements in eyes of his parents and many people as they praised his brother for his brilliant mind.

Yet his brother didn't always shining like a star. Their parents used to repetitively lamented to Eddy, grating his nerves. "Eddy, remember study hard and don't end like up like your brother who is useless as ever." They didn't shy away from their disappointment in the elder brother, complaining and lamenting to Eddy even through his brother was in the same room.

He didn't know what his brother what his brother felt at their disappointment of him. Perhaps like he couldn't care less after hearing his parents making his complaint out loud everyday.

Like his brother had gained enlightenment from perhaps something that he had encountered, he had slowly changed from a teenager who wasted his time playing video game to person who knew to win to the approval of everyone around him while still be lazy as he previously was. His parents had approved of his improvement.

Sensing there were some disturbances in the air, he looked up from his homework and saw a white cat floating in front of him, at the level of his head as he still sat down on the chairs.

"What would you like to wish for?" the white creature asked, its mouth hadn't moved at all, "I can grant anything that you want." Its voice had pierced into his mind with such clarity.

Looking at him with its red eyes with the white tail behind its back was flickered back and forth.

What did he want? He wanted the power to change his circumstance, for people to listen to him, to see him.

He didn't couldn't see how he would regret all this in the end.

Author's note

Can I have constructive criticism as feedback for this story?

Theme

*How a person views himself or herself and what other people in their life view them.

*How power corrupt people regardless of their background and their aim.

*Misuse of power against their original purpose.


End file.
